Brief mention on the #Maddow of a protest in #charlottesville over the recent disappearance of two local house painters from the lovely historic courthouse by large anonymous men. I think I talked to them once, they were very funny. They sang Mexican ballads while they worked. https://youtu.be/D5WpL760XNI #cville #ice

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-nest-thermostats-eol-3548272/ I was expecting this as soon as #Google purchased #Nest . I liked the promise of a relationship with a company that would make the hardware I bought from them better over time. That has not been my experience. #SmartHome

https://dailyboulder.com/ice-can-now-enter-your-home-without-a-warrant-to-find-migrants-doj-memo-says/ “immigration officers can sign their own administrative warrants. The bar for action is low — a “reasonable belief” that someone might be part of a Venezuelan gang is enough.” #USPolitics #privacy

One of the many odd things about this year: instead of associating #Louisiana with delicious food and great music, I now associate it with #detention in a cold cell. #USPolitics

@cwebber My personal favorite theme

@cwebber Fun, I’d missed that! I was a big OCRemix fan back in the day

@cwebber ah but which one? The new one’s a banger

@DocAtCDI I found that surprising also. Best I can tell it’s to qualify for giant federal subsidies that have no relationship to what would benefit a chain of islands with serious transportation and land use problems

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2025/04/17/texas-school-district-virginia-flag-ban-nudity #virginia #censorship #education

Meanwhile here in free #Virginia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_and_seal_of_Virginia

https://www.kxly.com/news/idaho-governor-signs-bill-criminalizing-public-breast-exposure-and-truck-nuts/article_2d191c2c-31da-44f5-913f-e5ec5b5031a4.html “the bill stemmed from him seeing a topless woman at an event at Lakeview Park in Nampa” #Idaho #FreeSpeech #TruckNuts #censorship

https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/gdot-atl-savannah-intercity-rail-project-train-plan-survey “Imagine boarding an intercity train at lunchtime on Friday in Atlanta, finishing out the workweek online while in transit, and spending the weekend in one of the most walkable cities in America—Savannah—before boarding the train again Sunday to swing back home.” #atlanta #savannah #rail

@PapyrusBrigade @agitatra @aral We have privatized immigration detention in the U.S. and it is a politically influential multi-billion dollar industry with vast growth potential https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/24/detained-us-largest-immigrant-detention-trump

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2025/03/06/who-removed-richmond-mural “meant a lot to a lot of people that were there when things were happening” #RVA #BLM #PublicArt #Censorship #Preservation

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2025/02/small-single-stairway-apartment-buildings-have-strong-safety-record Very excited to see this released. “In New York City, the overall rate of fire deaths in its 4,440 modern single-stair buildings since 2012 was the same as in other residential buildings.” #housing #BuildingCodeReform #FireSafety #SingleStair #architecture

Thanks to Stephen Smith and the #CenterForBuildingInNorthAmerica for the heavy lift on this and answering my many questions https://www.centerforbuilding.org/about

It was amazing to me how much the discussion changed in the Virginia code process once these numbers were shared. We started with heavy concern and criticism over safety and ended talking about how best to get fire deaths in Virginia to zero while ending homelessness, especially for children and families. This is not typical for a public process, and definitely not over a period of months.

I have learned that my friend Satyendra Huja has recently passed. He served for many years as the head planner for #cville and then later two terms as Mayor. I have been grateful for his friendship these many years and often find myself inspired by his many years of service and insistence on “thinking outside the box”. Miss you Satyendra. https://www.cvillepedia.org/Satyendra_Huja

There is a nice obituary and information about the celebration of Satyendra Huja's life posted here https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailyprogress/name/satyendra-huja-obituary?id=57589160

“he was a strong advocate for the Downtown Mall, as well as revitalizations of Court Square, the Corner, and Starr Hill. He served on City Council beginning in 2008 and became the first Indian Sikh mayor of an American city in 2012 and served until 2016” #urbanism #Cville #Sikh